Parcel-elevator mechanism.



H. L. WILSON.

PARCEL ELEVATOR MECHANISM.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB.27,1912.

1,081,259. Patented De c.9,1913.

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PARCEL ELEVATOR MECHANISM. APPLIGATION FILED I'BB. 27, 1912.

1,081,259, Patented Dec. 9, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON. D. C4

UNITED STATES PATEN T OFFICE.

HARRY L. WILSON, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE LAIVISON COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PARCEL-ELEVATOR MECHANISM.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY L. VILSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Parcel-Elevator Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to elevating or conveying apparatus and has been worked out with especial reference to being employed as an elevator 0r lift for cash receivers and other relatively small parcels, thus adapting it for use or service in stores where it is desirable to frequently convey such articles short distances from one level to another.

While the invention is illustrated as being embodied in a mechanism of this specific character it should be understood that it is not limited, in its useful applications to this particular use.

It has for its object to improve apparatus of this character in the particulars and in the manner to be hereinafter pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a side view enlarged of the catch or grip device for retaining the elevating frame. Fig. 3 is a central vertical section of the same. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line TV-TV of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a top plan view of a catch device of somewhat different construction from the one shown in Figs. 2 to 1. Fig. 6 is a central vertical section of the catch shown in Fig. 5.

In the drawings, 2 represents a standard which may be of any usual or preferred construction, and 3, a head-piece or attach ment plate, likewise of any usual construction. Between these two parts and supported thereby, extends a way or guide for the moving carrier or elevator 4. This way or guide preferably consists of a pair of parallel taut wires, 5, 5. They are conveniently supported as represented in the drawings, being secured at their lower ends to the cross-piece 6 carried by the standard 2, and at their upper ends to turn buckles or tightening devices 7 supported by the headpiece 3.

While the elevator may be of any suitable Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filedv February 27, 1912.

Patented Dec. 9,1913. Serial No. 680,243.

construction, adapted to the use to which it is put, I have illustrated one of simple style for supporting a cash box or receptacle 8. It consists, essentially, of a small rectangular frame 9 carrying clips 10 for retaining the cash receptacle. This carrier or frame slides freely upon the wires 5, which, passing through the top and bottom cross-bars of the frame 9, direct and steady its movements. From the top cross-piece of the frame 9 rise a pair of posts, 11, 11, between which extends a cross-bar 12, to which is secured the lifting cord 18. This passes over a series of head pulleys, 14, supported by the head-piece 3, and other pulleys, 15, supported in the movable sheave or pulley frame 16, which is preferably provided with a handle 17, to which may be secured, if found desirable, an extension pull cord 18 provided with a handle. At the lower end of the path of travel of the frame are arranged the spring buffers or bumpers 19, preferably consisting of coiled springs surrounding the Wires 5 and provided at their upper contact ends with rubber blocks, and upon these rests the carrier when in its low est position. The frame is arrested at the upper limitof its travel by a cross-piece 20 supported by and secured to the wires 5. This piece is in the form of a bar or plate and is preferably resiliently supported, springs 21 being interposed between it and the blocks 22 secured fast to the wires 5 by set screws 23. As additional means for reducing shock should the frame be brought violently into contact with the stop plate, I provide the upper ends of the posts 11 with elastic bumpers 241-.

In order to retain the frame 9 in its uppermost position I provide a catch, grip, or holding device of novel construction, sup porting it upon the cross stop plate 20. It is arranged to engage with the cross-bar 12 which is guided into proper working engagement therewith by the tracks 5.

The catch, designated as a whole by 25, consists essentially of a pair of co-axial and concentric cylinders of short length, one of which, 26, is secured fast to the stop plate 20, and the other, 27, is supported so as to be free to oscillate about a vcrtital axis 28. In the stationary cylinder or section 26 are formed a pair of diametrically opposite tapering slots 29 into which the cross-bar 12 enters as it moves toward the plate 20. The cscillatable section 27 of the catch is likewise formed with diametrically opposite slots 30, which, when the cylinder is turned to one position, register with the slots 29, permitting the cross-bar 12 to freely pass into and out of the catch. The slots 30, in the inner cylinder 26, are, at their upper ends, laterally extended, as indicated at 31, with the result that this cylinder is provided with a pair of retaining hooks 32, 32, adapted to lie across the slots 29 of the other cylinder, as indicated in Fig. 2, leaving substantially closed seats, for the cross-bar 12, above the hooks 82. A spring 3 1, connected at one end with some stationary part of the catch, as a pin 35 seated in the outer cylin der 26, and at its other end with a. pin 36 connected with the movable cylinder, tends to maintain the parts of the catch in the po sitions indicated in Fig. 2, that is to say, with the hooks 32 lying across the slots 29, as already described. The pin 36 with which the spring is connected may be sufli ciently extended to form a hand-piece by means of which the movable cylinder can be turned, against the action of the spring, into position to bring the slots 29 and 30 into register and thus open the catch.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have illustrated a catch device somewhat difierent from that shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. As here illustrated, the movable cylinder of the catch is provided with a hub 28mounted in the supporting plate 20-that constitutes the axial support for this section of the catch. To this hub is secured the handle 33 by which the cylinder is operated to permit the receptacle to be lowered. The movable cylinder of the catch is acted upon by two springs, 23%, 3a, instead of a single one as in the other construction, and these are mounted above the plate 20, being each connected at one end with a pin 35 seated in the plate, and at the other end with a pin 36 connected with the cylinder 27 and extending upward therefrom through slots 37 in the plate 20.

In using the exemplified apparatus the attendant places the carrier receptacle 8, or other article, in the clips 10, and by pulling upon the cord 18 lifts it to the level where the stop plate 20 is situated. Here the crossbar 12 of the device enters the catch 25, being, by the wires 5, directed into the slots 29 and 30. As the bar enters the catch the movable cylinder is oscillated, against the action of the spring or springs which give it a bias or tendency for a determined position, as the cross-bar passes the hooks 32, but as soon as the bar reaches the upper ends of the slots, or clear the hooks, the springs turn the cylinder 27 backward toward said position, bringing the catches 32 below the cross-bar, which is thereby securely held until it is released by rocking the cylinder to bring the slots of the catch into register. The arm, 33 or 36, is adapted to be moved, either manually or by mechanism provided for that purpose as may be arranged, whenever the receptacle supporting-frame is to be released preparatory to descending.

While I have illustrated the catch device herein described as being located only at the upper end of the elevator track, it is quite apparent that it is equally well adapted to be located at the lower end of the elevator run in order to retain the elevator or lift in its lowermost position until it is intentionally released, should this be desirable. It is also apparent that the catch herein shown is not limited in its useful applications to being mounted upon a relatively stationary support, but the support for the catch might itself be a carrier.

By mounting the catch upon a yielding or resilient support I insure the certain and positive action of the catch devices, as the yielding of the stop plate as the carrier comes into engagement therewith insures that the contacting parts of the carrier and the catch shall be in close engagement for a sutlicient length of time to permit the movable parts of the catch to assume locking positions before any rebound of the elevator can take place.

What I claim is 1. Store service apparatus comprising a receptacle supporting-frame, provided with laterally extending parts, means for elevating said frame, a catch with which said parts engage having a hook for engaging therewith rotatable about a substantially vertical axis, and resilient means for yieldingly holding said hook in position to engage with the said parts.

2. The combination with a receptacle supporting-frame, means for moving it and means for guiding it steady during a portion at least of its movement, a cross-piece car ried by said frame, a catch with which the cross-piece engages having a hook for engaging therewith rotatable about an axis substantially parallel with the line of said guided movement of the frame, and means for yieldingly holding the hook in position to engage with said cross-piece, said last mentioned means maintaining said crosspiece in locked relationship with said hook when said parts have been operatively engaged.

3. The combination with an elevating member movable up and down in a determined path, of a cross-piece carried by said member, and a catch having a hook for engaging with the cross-piece, said catch being oscillatable about a vertical axis, provisions for limiting the oscillatory movement of said hook in one direction at least, and means for yieldingly holding said hook in position to engage with the cross-piece.

45. The combination with a carrier and means for moving it in a directed path, of a catch for engaging with and holding the carrier, comprising a pair of concentric slotted cylinders, one movable relative to the other and arranged when adjusted to certain positions to grip the carrier, and a spring for yieldingly holding the parts of the catch in the said locking position.

5. The combination with a carrier and means for moving it in a directed path, of a catch for engaging with and holding the carrier comprising a pair of concentric slotted cylinders one of the cylinders being movable relative to the other about an axis parallel with the lines of movement of the carrier, and one cylinder carrying hooks adapted to engage with a part of the carrier and arranged to lie across the slotin the other cylinder, and means tending to hold the cylinders in the position just described.

6. The combination with an elevator, and means for guiding it, of a cross-piece carried by the elevator, and a catch arranged in the path of the elevator in position to engage with the said cross-piece and comprising a pair of concentric slotted cylinders, one of the cylinders being free to oscillate about a vertical axis, and one of them being provided with a hook extending into the slot formed therein and arranged to engage with the said cross-piece, and a spring for yield ingly holding the movable cross-piece with the said hook lying across the slot in the other cylinder.

7. The combination with a pair of vertical guides, of an elevator movable along the said guides and directed thereby, a stoppiece arranged in the path of the carrier for arresting its travel, a catch carried by the said stop-piece comprising a slotted cylinder free to oscillate about a vertical axis and having a hook that extends into the slot, a contact piece carried by the carrier and arranged to enter the slot of the said catch and be engaged by the hook thereof as the carrier approaches the stop-piece, a spring engaging with the cylinder of the catch and tending to hold it in position to engage the said contact piece of the carrier, and means by which the cylinder of the catch may be oscillated against the action of the spring to release the carrier.

8. The combination with a carrier and means for moving it in a directed path, of a stop for arresting the movement of the carrier, a yielding support for the stop, and a catch supported by the said stop for holding the carrier.

9. The combination of a carrier receptacle provided with a supporting frame and with means for raising and lowering said frame, and means for automatically locking said frame in an elevated position, said means comprising two parts, one of which is secured to said frame and the other of which is normally disposed substantially at said elevated position, one of said parts being mounted for rotation about a substantially vertical axis, resilient means for yieldingly holding said rotatable part against rotation, said first mentioned means adapted to ellect an engagement of said parts, one at least of said parts having provisions for effecting rotation of the rotatable part when so engaged, one of said parts being recessed for the reception ol the other of said parts and adapted to be locked together therewith when one part is so received into said recess in the other part, said resilient means maintaining said locked relationship 10. The combination of a carrier receptacle with means for moving said receptacle through a determined path of travel and means for automatically locking said receptacle at a determined point in said path, said locking means comprising a locking member pivoted for oscillatory movement about an axis which is substantially parallel to said path at said point, said member having a bias for a determined position, and a second locking part adapted for hooking engagement with said member when said me1nher and part are driven by said first mentioned means into a determined relationship with respect to each other, said part adapted to rotate said member from said determined position when said determined relationship is being established, said member thereafter rotating back substantially to said determined position.

11. The combination of a carrier receptacle with means for moving said receptacle through a determined path of travel, and means for automatically locking said receptacle at a determined point in said path, said locking means comprising a locking member pivoted for oscillatory movement about an axis which is substantially parallel to said path at said point, said mei'nber having a bias for a determined position, and a second locking part adapted for hooking engage ment with said member when said member and part are driven by said first mentioned means into a determined relationship with respect to each other, said hooking engagement being at two spaced points, one upon one side of said part and the other at substantially the opposite side of said part.

12. The combination of a carrier receptacle with means for moving said receptacle through a determined path of travel, and means for automatically locking said receptacle at a determined point in said pat-h, said locking means comprising a locking member pivoted tor oscillatory movement about an axis which is substantially parallel to said path at said point, said member having a bias for a determined position, and means co-acting with said member to sub stantially encircle said second locking part at the part thereof in hooked engagement with said member.

13. The combination of a carrier receptacle with means for moving said receptacle through a determined path of travel, and means for automatically locking said receptacle at a determined point in said path, said locking means comprising a pivoting element, a locking member secured to said element and movable rotarily thereon, the axis of said element being substantially parallel to said path, at said point, and'a second locking part adapted for hooking engagement with said member when said member and second part are moved into a determined relationship wit 1 respect to each other.

14. The combination of a carrier receptacle with means for moving said receptacle through a determined path of travel, and means for automatically locking said receptacle at a determined pointin said path, said locking means comprising a pivoting element, a locking member secured to said element and movable rotarily thereon, the axis of said element being substantially parallel to said path, at said point, and a second locking part adapted for hooking engagement with said member when said member and second part are moved into a determined relationship with respect to each other, said hooking engagement being at two spaced points one upon either side of said axis.

HARRY L.. WILSON.

Witnesses:

FRANCES LA ND, ARTHUR H; NICHOLS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

